Method and machine for marking circular knit fabric for boarding



Nov. 6, 1945. H. N. SHEPPARD METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT FABRIC FOR BOARDING Filed July 1, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 five 27,2507- 'HARF\Y N. SHEPPARD Q9 his aiiarvzeys H. N. SHEPPARD METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT FABRIC FOR BOARDING Nov. 6, 1945,

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 1, 1944.

I fr zven'iai HARRY N. SHEPPARD NOV. 6, 1945. SHEPPARD 2,388,648

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT FABRIC FOR BOARDING Filed July 1, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 E I; J. F Ta 36 I 1, l v. I JJJ I" 9 i If 6 A o a g w I li I 70 JFzverziar w I) j; HARRY N. SHEPPARD 75 72 215 ai'iar'neyfi Nov. 6, 1945. H. N. SHEPPARD 2,388,648

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT FABRIC FOR BOARDING Filed July 1 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Tic z.

Jhven-Zvr HARRY N. SHEPPARD @y his 61 220 T7 2 635 Patented Nov. 6, 1945 I METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT FABRIC FOR BOARDING Harry N. Sheppard, Maplewood, N. J assigncr to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 1, '1944, Serial No. 543,129

14 Claims.

This invention relates to seamless hosiery and more particularly to seamless hosiery knit of a thread formed of a material such for example as the synthetic fibre forming polymeric amides known as nylon which is adapted to be set to r. a definite shape by subjecting the material to heat or heat and moisture as in the hosiery preboarding operation. In order that the hosiery may be properly shaped by the preboarding operation it is necessary that the hosiery be placed on the preboarding form with particular wales at the back and front of the hosiery exactly following the back and front edges, respectively, of the thin flat form used in this operation. In boarding full-fashioned hosiery the seam at the back and bottom of the hosiery provides a raised guide enabling the operator to rapidly and accurately position the hosiery on the boarding-form by placing the hosiery seam along the back edge of the form, an Operation which can be carried out by feeling the position of the seam on the form. With seamless hosiery there is no seam to guide the operator and in order to place seamless hosiery on a boarding form so as to have the hosiery present the most attractive appearance when offered for sale it is necessary to place particular wales of the hosiery on the back and front edges of the form. Careful inspection and adjustment, therefore, are required to insure'seamless hosiery being properly placed on the form and the operation is slow and costly and requires additional facilities to be provided. It is an object of this invention to provide seamless hosiery of the class described having means for guiding the positioning of the hosiery on the forms for the preboarding operation. It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of placing the guiding means on the hosiery during the knitting thereof such that the. guiding means will correctly indicate the proper wales to be alined with the edges of the form and it is a further object of this invention to provide a knitting machine having means for placing such guiding in proper position on the hosiery during the knitting thereof.

The invention is shown in the drawings in connection with a Scott and Williams circular knitting machine for knitting hosiery having turned welts, the machine being of the general construction shown in the patent to Scott, No. 1,282,958, issued October 29, 1918, and provided with patterning mechanism comprising jacks and jack selecting means such as are shown in the patent to Page No. 1,969,853 issued August 14, 1934, and only such parts of the knitting machine are shown as are necessary to clearly illustrate the invention.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a partial view in side elevation of aknitting machine in accordance with this invention, parts being broken away to'show other parts more clearly;

Figure 2 is a view in front elevation of the knitting machine head shown in Figure 1, parts being broken away to show other parts more clearly;

Figure 3 is a partial plan view of the knitting machine shown in Figure 1, parts being broken away to show other parts more clearly;

Figures 4 and 5 are vertical sections through the needle cylinder taken at different places so as to show different phases of the jack and needle operation, Figure 4 showing the operation of a jack for a needle other than those at the wales to be placed on the preboarding form edge while Figure 5 shows the operation of a jack for a needle at a wale to be placed on the form edge;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of part of the operating means for applying coloring material to the needles knitting the wales to be placed on the preboarding form edge;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view showing the cam operating the jacks of the needles to which coloring material is applied;

Figures 8 and 9 are views in elevation of the back and front, respectively, of hosiery having coloring material applied in accordance with this invention; and Y Figure 10 is an enlarged view of a fragment of the hosiery fabric showing the coloring material applied to two wales.

As shown in Figures 8 and 10,'hosiery in accordance with this invention has a guide mark M of a width of one or more needle wales extending down the center of the back of the leg L from the welt W to the heel H. The mark is omitted from the heel and toe but extends along the bottom of the sole S. A similar guide mark M may extend along the center wale or wales of the front of the leg from the welt W to and along the top of the instep I to the toe. Preferably the guide mark is formed of fugitive dye contrasting sufficiently in color with the thread of which the hosiery is knit to be readily seen when the hosiery is being placed on the preboarding form. As the preboarding operation sets the 4 thermo-setting thread of which'the hosiery is knit so that the hosiery tends to maintain the shape and size given it by the preboarding operation, the removal of the fugitive dye forming The machine for forming the guide mark on -l; the hosiery during the knitting thereof shown";

in the drawings is a circular hosiery knitting machine having a needle cylinder 260 -mounted for rotation in a suitable frame and having needles N intermediate jacks'l32 and pattern jacks 136 alined in the grooves thereof there being a jack of each kind for each needle. The mar I 120, raises the associated yarn finger to witharm 24, confines a spring 5| coiled about the rod 26. The bell crank lever 35 is pivotally mounted on a pin 31 carried by the yoke 50 which supports the yarn fingers F F etc. and has an arm 38 provided with a laterally projecting pin 39 which extends beneath the adjacent yarn finger Fl Springs 40 and extending between the bracket 42' and the 'arin' 38 and yarn fingerF, respectively, hold the pin 59 engaged with the yarn finger F and bias the yarn finger toward the position which yarn is fed'to the needles.

chine is also provided with the usual needle op.- V

crating cams, yarn fingers F F etc. operated-- through push rods 460 from cams on the main pattern drum I20.

The pattern jack selecting In the construction shown, a push rod "I,

when raised by a cam on the main pattern drum draw the yarn from the needles and when the push rod passes from the cam holding it raised, it

permits the spring to operate the yarn finger to means provided comprises a pattern drum 800 rotated step by step and operating reader cams 820 to select jacks for operating needles in the usual manner.

The guide mark is formed in the hosiery" by applying a, fugitive dye-to the hooks of one or more needlesknitting the central Wale or wales at the back or back and front of -"the*'hosiery.'

In order that thedye may be applied to the desired needles only such needles are selected by being raised in each revolution when the guide mark is being formed prior to the raising of the adjacent needles to take the thread for knitting. To secure the raising of the selected needles. the

pattern butts of the jacks 136a for the selected needles are broken away so that these jacks, after having their operating butts moved outwardly by the engagement of the upper portion of the I jack with the cam I00, do not have their operating butts pressed inwardly the cam VI [3 whichraises the selected jacks and theneedles N associated withthe'se jacks. while leaving the remaining jacks and their needles] in their lowered positions at this point in'the' revolution of the needle cylinden Inknitting the leg and foot of the hosiery shown vthe only jacks operated are those for raising the needles to,

take the coloring material and these jacks are returned to their lowered positions by the usual and serves to support the dial spindle 3. A pin 22 in the bracket I limits the pivotal movement of theangular member [6 in one direction to:a position in which the brush I0 is held in the path of theraised selected needles. The other arm of the angular member It has secured thereto a laterally, projecting arm 24 having at its outerend an opening in which a rod 26 is slidably mountedl Fixed on the rod 26 adjacent its ends are col-, lars 28 and 29, the collar 28 securing the rod 25 in the arm 24 while the collar 29 secures the bent end of rod 26 in an opening in an-arm34 Oil-a bell crank lever 35. Fixed on theqrod :26 intermediate its ends is a collar 38 which, with the by engagement of 7a" reader cam 820 with meet their patternbutts. The operating, butts of the selectedneedles ac cordingly' are left positioned for engagement by the yarn finger F, is raised by rod 26 to slide inthe opening a position in which a yarn is fed to the needles. As shown, the yarn finger F does not supply a yarn to the needles but serves only as a means for operating the fountain brush to and from a position in which the brush supplies coloring mate-' rial to the raised selected needles NZ, When its push rod, the finger" F through its engagement with the pin 39; operates the bell crank.lever,35 to retract the rod 26, rotating the angle member 1-5 and; shiit ing-the fountain it is engaged-by position When the pushrod is withdrawn from the yarn finger, the springs 40 and, Operate the bell crank lever and the yarn finger F",-causing the in the arm; 24, compress ,spring 5 l, and rotate the angle member ll tov engage the pin 22 and place the fountain the-raised selected needles to a brush in the ,path' of-the raised selected needles. In-the knitting ofthe seamless hosiery shown I in the drawings the thread used in the knitting of coloring mate the turned welt was knitting the leg .andvfoot and the pattern in the welt was such thatthe thread could-be taken and knit in all coursesbythe needles selected toform the guide mark.,-,During the knitting of r the welt-the fountain brush is held from the path of the raisedselec ted needles by a push rod holdfinger F- in raised position The.

ing-,the yarnmainzpatternldrum cams con-trolling the yarn finger F? and thoseicontrolling the yarn finger. as F, which. feeds the thread, to the needles for the knitting of the leg andioot are similar and similarly placed on the "main pattern drum I20 so. that the fountain brush is positioned to apply whenthe yarn is'supplied totthe' needles for the knitting of the legland foot and the fountain brush'is withdrawn when that thread is withdrawn during the knittin'gof the heel and toe.

f whatis claimed is: f

1. Inga inethodgof manufacturing hosiery on a seamless hosiery macliine,. the step of markin'g hosiery fabric during knitting with a line infusiti ve dye on a body thread to indicate a wale for engaging a'n e'mge'of a preboarding form;vv

a 2,. In a method of manufacturing hosiery on; seamless 1hos'iery, machine,"the step of hunting seamless tubular; hosiery during knitting ,with a line' in fugitive I dye on a "bQ y thread indicating ing,an edge of apreboarding form 3, In faj method ofmanufacturing hosiery on a sizarnle's's' -hosiery'mw e,, the step of marking hosiery fabric the needlesduring knitting with a lineinfugitive dye on a, body thread indicatin wales for engaging an edge 01a preb'oarding form.

brush from'a position in which clearof the path, of the needles.

different from -that. used in rial to the raised selecte d needles.

4. In a method of manufacturng hosiery, the steps of applying fugitive dye to a selected needle and applying the dye on the needle to the loop drawn by said needle in the knitting of each course to mark a line during the knitting indicating a wale for engaging an edge of a preboarding' form.

5. In a method of manufacturing hosiery, the steps of applying fugitive dye to the same selected needles prior to the taking of the thread by said selected needles and applying the dye on the needles to the loops drawn by said needles in the knitting of each course to mark during knitting wales for engaging an edge of a preboarding form.

6. In a circular hosiery knitting machine, means for raising selected needles prior to the raising of adjacent needles to take a thread, brush means for applying fugitive dye to the hooks of said raised selected needles, and pattern means controlling the application of the fugitive dyes to said needle hooks.

7. In a knitting machine having independent needles, means for isolating a selected needle above adjacent needles, means for supplying coloring material to said isolated selected needle prior to operation of said selected needle to take a thread in the knitting of a course, and means operating said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needle applying the coloring material to the thread loop drawn thereby.

8. In a circular knitting machine, means for isolating selected needles above adjacent needles, means for applying coloring material to said isolated selected needles prior to operation of said selected needles to take a thread in the knitting of a course, and means to operate said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needles applying the coloring material to the thread loops drawn thereby and said selected needles being the same needles in each revolution of the machine whereby said selected needles knit a colored stripe or stripes.

9. In a circular knitting machine, means for isolating selected needles above adjacent needles, meansfor supplying coloring material to said isolated selected needles prior to operation of said selected needles to take a thread in the knitting of a course, and means for operating said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needles applying the'coloring material to the thread loops drawn thereby and said selected needles knitting colored loops in the same wales in successive courses to form a contrasting preboarding guide in the fabric.

10. In a circular hosiery knitting machine,

means for isolating selected needles above adjacent needles, means i'or supplying coloring material to said isolated selected needles prior to operation of said selected needles to take a thread in the knitting of a course, means for operating said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needles applying the coloring material to the thread loops drawn thereby, and means for rendering said coloring material supplying means operative during the knitting oi the hosiery leg and foot.

11. In a knitting machine having independent needles, means for diiferentiating a selected needle in position fromthe adjacent needles prior to the operation of said selected needle to take a thread in the knitting of a course, means for supplying coloring material to said selected needle while said selected needle is diflerentiated in position from the adjacent needles, and means operating said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needle applying the coloring material to the thread loop drawn thereby.

12. In a circular knitting machine, means for operating a selected needle to a position difi'erentiating said selected needle from adjacent needles prior to the taking of a thread by said selected needle in the knitting of a course, means for applying coloring material to said selected needle while said selected needle is difierentiated in position from said adjacent needles, and means -to operate said needles to draw loops of the thread, said selected needle applying coloring material to the loops drawn thereby and said selected needle being the same needle in each revolution of the machine.

13. In a knitting machine having independent needles including at least one differentiated needle, means for supplying coloring material to said difierentiated needle prior to the operation of said needle to take a thread in the knitting of a course, and means operating said needles to draw loops of thread, said differentiated needle applying thecoloring material to the thread loop drawn thereby.

14. In a knitting machine having independent needles including at least one differentiated needle, means for supplying coloring material to said differentiated needle prior to the operation of said needle to take a thread in the knitting of a course, and means operating said needles to draw loops of the thread, said differentiated needle applying the coloring material to the thread loop drawn thereby and said difierentiated needle being the same needle in each revolution of the machine.

HARRY N. SHEPPARD. 

